I'll Always Love You
by JulyB96
Summary: "He turned to face her and was going to start pointing out all the mistakes their parents had ever made to try a salvage himself from what he had just said, but then she looked up at him and there they were. Those eyes. Those beautiful, blue eyes- " Words can be dangerous, but actions, well those can be deadly. Written for pjoshipweeks. Luke POV.


This is what I wrote as a contribution to pjoshipweeks: week 1, which was Thaluke. And they are my otp, so I was really excited to write this. If I had to tell you the truth, it would be that I actually got a little bit emotional while writing this. Almost cried. Oh jeez, my otp.

This takes place at some point after Thalia becomes Artemis's lieutenant and before Luke gets possessed by Kronos.

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Luke had to admit, he had experienced a lot of strange things in the past few years, some of them _a lot_ more strange than others, but he couldn't not say that he found it both pretty strange and surprising to have an eagle (an eagle, of all birds it was an eagle) deliver a message to him, without even attempting to claw his eyes out, while he had been on an errand for Kronos.

Seriously, it had surprised him and he meant surpris_ed_, as in that had been two weeks ago, because once he'd inspected the lightning blue ribbon wrapped around the parchment, he knew exactly who it was from. The instructions were simple: get your ass to this meadow, be there at night, make sure no one was following you. Of course, he did want to complain that his meadow may be in the middle of nowhere, three states away from where he was currently, but with a little titan magic he had been given, that wasn't much of a problem. So, here he was, standing in the shadow of a tree, looking out on the clearing as the moon bathed it in a silvery, white glow.

And, even though he had been caught off guard with this whole little event, he was not at all surprised when an arrow lodged itself into the tree he'd been leaning against.

In order to save them both from an angered tree nymph, he quickly ripped the arrow out and examined it carefully. "Does Artemis supply these herself, or do you guys make them?"

"Shut it, Luke."

"You never were one for introductions, Thalia." He sighed and watched as said girl emerged from the other side of the clearing. It wasn't that big of a meadow, and for that he was grateful, because it let him look at her without needing to take a step forward. And not just look, like a passing glance, but actually look. He hadn't been able to do that during the Mt. Othrys incident. She hadn't grown (obviously), but her hair had gotten a bit longer, not much, but just enough to have it brush against her shoulders and make the spikes a little less rebellious. The freckles still dusted her cheeks, but ah—damn the gods! He couldn't get a good look at her eyes.

"You were never one for goodbyes." She said, a smirk mixing with her words. He scowled.

"Great to know you're adjusting to human life with flying colors, Thalia," He spat. "Alright then, why'd you request my lovely presence?"

"I wouldn't exactly call it lovely," She muttered. "Come over here and I'll tell you!"

"Ha!" I said, "Out into the moonlight? Do you think I'm an idiot, Thalia, really? I'm not falling for one of your little tricks. I'm not going to let myself get trapped by a bunch of prissy, stuck up eternal virgins."

"Hey!" Another arrow lodged itself in the tree. "Take that back."

He ripped it out and whispered rather fiercely, "Stop doing that or the nymphs are going to rat on us!"

"Well, don't worry! I'm not the one who betrayed everybody and became a traitor and so I don't have anything to worry about!" Thalia screamed, getting to frustrated to do anything but yell and stomp on the ground.

"Ok, go ahead throw a tantrum!" Luke yelled back. "The only reason I did that was because they took you away from me, and after years of having disappointment after disappointment, it was kind of hard seeing the only thing I cared about being ripped away from, alright! Do you get it now?!"

"Oh, so I was the only thing?" Thalia said, taking a few steps forward. "You didn't care about Annabeth? Huh? What about now? Do you still care? Have you ever cared about her?"

Luke groaned, coating it with extra attitude, "Oh, please, Thals, you _know_ that's not what I meant. Those are just pathetic questions."

"They are not! You just don't want to answer them! I guess you really don't care about Annie!" Thalia yelled. Luke was baffled and then a hint of anger surfaced somewhere deep inside him.

"How could you even think that I don't care about Annabeth? Of course, I care. I care about her so much Thalia, do you know how hard it was for me to leave her?" He screamed at her, fists clenching at his sides.

"Then why'd you fucking leave!" Thalia screamed, throwing her bow on the ground.

"I already told you! Because of you!" He yelled.

"How could I be so important that you literally had to betray our parents and make a deal with my grandfather?" HOW?!" She yelled.

"BECAUSE I LOVED YOU. I FUCKING LOVED YOU AND THEY TOOK YOU AWAY." Luke screamed, so loud his voice cracked. The silence that followed was so quiet that their ears rung and both had realized how loud they'd been yelling.

Of course, they both realized what had just been said as well.

"Luke," Thalia said after a moment. "Please come here."

He crossed his arms and looked off into the trees, "I told you not I'm falling for that trap. I'll walk into the moonlight and your little goddess will see me and that'll be the end of it."

"It's not a trap," Thalia sighed. "They're a good two miles back."

Luke stared down at her, "Then prove it, come into the shadows. It's not that hard."

Thalia grunted and muttered something about him always calling _her_ the stubborn one, but did it anyway. He turned to face her and was going to start pointing out all the mistakes their parents had ever made to try a salvage himself from what he had just said, but then she looked up at him and there they were. _Those eyes._ Those beautiful, blue eyes that sparkled with an electric shine that couldn't be dimmed no matter where she stood. They would have stood out even in the darkest cavern in the deepest cave on earth. (Well, that was cheesy.) He couldn't tear himself away. All he could do was lose himself in those eyes that could only belong to one person, because they were that stunning. Gods, how they shined.

Wait, he took a closer look, they weren't shining, they were wet. Oh no, had he made her upset with all that yelling? Was she trying not to cry? No, this wasn't happening. "Thalia, Thalia, please don't—"

"Wait," She said. Her voice was thick, oh gods. "I told you to be here because I wanted answers, so I'm going to talk and you can't do anything about it." Luke nodded, desperately wanting to reach out and hold her. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered how their lives could have gotten this screwed up, but some voice told him that it was his own fault why they were in this shitty situation.

Thalia took a deep breath, "It's weird, I thought I'd have to talk to you all night to get anything out of you, but it turns out I've already gotten most of my questions answered. But now I have a little bit more information than I had been expecting, and I'm never letting it go, but I still have to give you something in return if I wasn't supposed to have it in the first place."

"What?" Luke said. "Wait, slow down, Thalia, I'm not understand—"

"I love you too." She said.

He stared at her, wide eyed. "I'm sorry did you just say. . ."

"I love you too." Thalia said and Luke took a deep breath, trying to stop himself from hyperventilating before he even started, but then it happened. A little tiny teardrop escaped from the corner of her eye and that's what crossed the line because suddenly he had her face in his hands and his lips were on hers, again and again and _again._

He would understand if Thalia kicked him in the nuts at the moment or maybe punched him in the jaw after he stopped but right now all he could focus on was muttering various, 'don't cry's, in between the numerous kisses he kept giving her. He decided to slowly pull back after a few moments and began mentally preparing himself for the slap that was sure to come but then Thalia kissed him back. She kissed him back and then he kissed her back and then they were kissing, like actually kissing and she wrapped her hands around his neck and he snaked his arms around her waist and hoisted her up, just simply holding her there as their lips met time and time again.

One particular kiss sent a shock through his body and his knees gave out, sending both of them tumbling to the ground. Luke thought that would have ended it but Thalia just grabbed his t-shirt and smashed their lips back together. It continued on like that for awhile but then Thalia started crying and Luke didn't stop her this time, he just held her there on the grassy earth and buried his face into her hair as she sobbed into his chest because he understood. This wouldn't happen again, never again, it shouldn't have ever happened, but it did and they had to deal with that. The fates had never planned for their paths to cross permanently and it's as if they both had come to a mutual agreement through the kisses they had shared.

They'd leave each other in the morning and the next time they'd see each other would be in a different setting, surrounded by many others, that was certain. But as Thalia's cries ceased and Luke lifted her chin so he could see those eyes again he heard himself murmur, "I'll always love you."

A smile broke out on Thalia's face and she simply kissed him once more because he knew she wouldn't say those three words back. He didn't blame her, she was Artemis's lieutenant, she couldn't walk around with three little words pulling her back. And although she didn't say it, they both knew that Luke's 'I love you' was enough for the both of them.

So, when morning came and the sun began to peek through the clouds, Thalia picked up her weapons and fixed her circlet, but Luke pulled her into a tight hug before she could leave. He wrapped his arms around her, pressed their bodies close, and kissed her one last time. It was long and hard and soft and sweet all at the same time and he whispered those three beautiful words one last time before he let her go and watched as she walked away. He knew she wouldn't look back, no, she was too strong for that.

Of course, once he knew she was out of sight it was then, and only then he let himself cry. He cried for minutes, maybe hours, but he cried. In that one spot, kneeling in the grass because he just couldn't hold himself up. He cursed the gods, he cursed the titans, he cursed the fates, he cursed _himself._ It was late morning when he finally got a hold of himself or rather, when the tears had finally dried out. Luke sniffled and slowly stood up, but ended up having to brace himself against the tree Thalia had hit. He saw the notches the arrows had left and had to stop himself from becoming a total wreck yet again. After a moment, Luke took a deep breath and looked around; they'd be expecting him back that was for sure. _He'd have to make up some excuse. _And with that thought Luke got ready to send himself back but almost out of nowhere a wind swooped through the clearing, and Luke could hear her voice again. She wasn't there, but he wasn't crazy, that was her voice and it said, well he could vaguely make out an—

"I'll always love you too."

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© Characters belong to Riordan, fanfiction belongs to me.


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